Romanovs Part 1: The Rise

PART 1/6. Strap in for the next 6 episodes, divas, because we are FINALLY unpacking the rise and fall of the last imperial family of Russia: The Romanovs. In this first episode, we're exploring how the Romanov family came into power, from the early Viking days to Ivan the Terrible and one Anastasia Romanova, we're going to look at the big emperors/empresses who shaped russian history, ending with the last Tsar's grandfather! Shout-out to our incredible researcher Gracie McCamish and editor Jamie Rose for pulling this together. If you like this series, make sure to subscribe and follow along so you don't miss the episodes as they drop, starting with part 2 next Tuesday and if you're wanting more Hot History you can follow along on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/hothistoryclub/?hl=en, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@hot.history?lang=en, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://substack.com/@hothistoryclub, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@hot.history ! 'Til next week, Ainslie x

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:00Speaker 02

  If you love mad monks, missing princesses, revolutionary fervor, and the changing of history forever, then chances are, you know about the Romanovs. The last imperial family to rule Russia before revolution and communism took the nation by hold. But if you don't know about them and it sounds like something that you would like to, then I want to invite you to watch or listen to our upcoming series on the Hot History Podcast. Over five different episodes, we are tracking everything from the rise of the very first Tsar and how the family gained such wealth and power, to the quest for a male heir, the role of Rasputin the mad monk, the relationship with the British royal family, the rise of Lenin and communism, and what exactly happened while the Romanovs were under house arrest.

• 1:44Speaker 02

  That and so much more is dropping on the Hot History Podcast across five episodes every Friday and every Tuesday until the end of September.

• 2:08Speaker 02

  Hi guys and welcome back to Hot History, your corner of the internet where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know but don't. I'm Ainslie Harvey, your hot historian here, ready to dive into what is, guys, other than my book, the biggest project I've undertaken here at Hot History, because we are starting our series on the Romanovs. Now, you guys, and I as well, okay, love diving back into the fall of Imperial Russia, which feels like this almost foreign and kind of like almost fantasy-like? Maybe that's not right to say, but that's kind of how it feels. It reminds me, in many ways, of kind of old Valyria for my Game of Thrones fans, because

• 2:51Speaker 02

  it is this time of such opulence and grandeur and old kind of traditionalism within palace gates, like genuinely unimaginable, guys. Meanwhile, absolute horrors were raging on the streets as the modern world is bashing down the doors of history. So this series is going to be broken down into five parts, and like genuinely, guys, it's going to be over six hours long, so strap the fuck in, okay? And because I am a benevolent hot historian, we are going to be releasing every Friday, like our normal episode, and then a second episode every week on Tuesday until the end of the month, starting with today's episode on the rise of the Romanovs, which is going

• 3:33Speaker 02

  to give us all the important context we need to know to understand how the Romanov family came to rule Russia, what an autocratic monarchy actually is, and why did they manage to rule for almost 300 years? And who the hell are all the people involved here? Because there's more relatives and cross-marriage and like shared DNA involved than a Habsburg ball, okay? So let's get into it today, guys, by rewinding all the way back to the 9th century AD, around the year 832, starting with what we know about Russia as a country. First and foremost, guys, the thing most people know is that Russia is, one, very

• 4:12Speaker 02

  cold, and, two, absolutely huge, making up about 11% of the world's landmass today. So massive, massive kind of global footprint, which is nestled between Europe and Asia, meaning there are no natural boundaries like seas or mountains to kind of define its border, which is partly how Russia, the state, right, became the shape and size that it is, pushing and pulling on neighboring state borders throughout time. Which FYI, guys, I do want to say at the top of this series and this episode, just because we are talking about Russian history and Russian culture and kind of how Russia came to be now, doesn't mean that I in any way, shape, or form support the current actions

• 4:56Speaker 02

  of Russia, especially in Ukraine. Just want to put that on the record. Now, the earliest recorded settlers in Kiev and Rus, i.e. Russia before it was actually called Russia, were the Slavs, though they were also Finno-Ugric tribes from the first millennium. But Russian historian Dr. Orlando Fierz, who we're going to quote a lot here, says, "Early Kiev and Rus shouldn't be defined by ethnic groups, but by a trading union of diverse peoples like the Slavs, the Finns, the Vikings, and the Khazars." So that's kind of the Formation Days, right? The original pre-9th century AD, which is important because it gives us the context of how power in Russia was eventually centralized in the city of Novgorod. Now, for those of you who haven't heard of Novgorod before, because like, why would we?

• 5:41Speaker 02

  The key thing to note is that in the 9th century, it was a thriving Viking settlement, facilitating trade between Scandinavia and Greece, which made it essential for the economy. But, given its Viking origins, it was a bit of a mess, with no proper laws governing the different communities. So, to kind of combat this, to kind of, you know, lay some proper foundations, Prince Rurik, a Viking chieftain, came over from Scandinavia at the Novgorod people's request, or at least that's what we think, to kind of institute some rules, you know, bring some law and order over here. So he took control of the city in 862 AD, remaining until his death in 879, after which

• 6:21Speaker 02

  his kinsman, named Oleg, took over and decided that he really wanted to do something different: build upon the law and order that Rurik established by expanding the territory. And he did this by uniting local tribes to seize lands north and south, including Kiev, the current capital of Ukraine, into Rus, which became its capital. Again, guys, hence the beef still today between Russia and Ukraine over its status. By the medieval times, though, small Viking towns and ports were no longer, with Kiev and Rus becoming the largest territory kingdom in Europe, stretching from the Gulf of Finland to Petosk, and when Christianity was introduced to the region by Prince Vladimir in 988 AD,

• 7:04Speaker 02

  it was drawn into Western civilization. Now, at this point, Fierz says that Kiev and Rus was doing well. Novgorod was wealthy, widely literate, and both culture and the economy seemed to be thriving all the way through to the 12th century. But some scholars say that while this may be the case for Novgorod as a city, many towns in the surrounding regions were actually in decline, which is categorically not good news here, guys, because come the early 13th century, a very, very big baddie comes onto the scene: the Mongols. Now, I am absolutely going to do more episodes on the Mongols for you guys because they're so fascinating and like really essential to understanding history.

• 7:49Speaker 02

  But the key thing most people associate with the Mongols is Genghis Khan. But don't worry, guys, he's not showing up here because he's dead by this point, but his grandson Batu isn't. And when I say he absolutely fucked up Kiev and Rus, guys, I am not exaggerating. Not only did he and the Mongol army sack, overrun, and take control of the majority of Kiev and Rus by 1240, but they also invaded Poland, Hungary, and the Balkans as well. So a lot of Mongol influence comes into Kiev and Rus at this period, something which Fierz actually warns against us exaggerating, stating that the Mongols play a role in what

• 8:31Speaker 02

  he considers to be Russia's ancient history. But I don't know I necessarily agree straight down the line here, guys. Sorry to like, go against you, Fierz, because I think the Mongols brought many, many things to the region, you know, they kind of strengthened military tactics, they brought things like the postal system, but most importantly, from my point of view here, Divas, the idea of autocracy really originated with the Mongol invasion here.

• 8:59Speaker 02

  So what the hell does autocracy even mean? We're going to use it a lot in these episodes. I've used it a lot in the past. So according to Merriam-Webster, autocracy is defined as a government in which one person possesses unlimited power. And this is significant here, guys, because this would ultimately be the thing that brought the Romanovs crashing down. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here because this system, as much as I fundamentally disagree with it, guys, it is what allowed them to keep complete and total control of Russia's vast empire and peoples. So how then did the Mongols bring this about? Well, as we said, prior to the 13th century, Kiev and Rus was doing well, but it was divided with a number of princes and regional rulers competing with one another alongside kind

• 9:42Speaker 02

  of other boyars, who were basically like aristocrats that exercised influence and some city assemblies as well, who are kind of known as vichy. So you have this, this kind of interacting power dynamic, which really meant that the power structure was fragmented. But when Batu Khan enters the picture, he consolidates this, turning the rulers of the various provinces into tributaries, who were forced to recognize his supremacy as sole ruler, something which laid the foundations for the princes of Moscow, which was a really small province at this time, to kind of schmooze their way up to the khans and effectively weasel into the Mongol political system by collecting tributes from the other Rus territories. This gave them increased power within Mongol ruled Rus, which eventually became Russia,

• 10:26Speaker 02

  guys, so I'm just going to call it Russia from here on out, alright? Elevating one man in particular, Ivan the First of Moscow, aka Ivan Moneybags, which FYI, guys, was his actual nickname, that is not a hot historianism, okay? So this went on until the 14th century, when Moscow basically stopped being politically subordinate to the Mongols, adapting a lot of the principles of centralized power that they used, with the word czar also being used interchangeably with Khan and Czar in the earliest years of Romanov rule, which brings us up to 1530, where we meet another Ivan, although this one's nickname was not Moneybags, but the Terrible.

• 11:08Speaker 02

  Son of Vasily III, the Grand Prince of Moscow, who died when he was only three, Ivan was raised by representatives of boyar families, who again are basically this kind of feudal nobility, that tried to use him for their own agendas, something that would ultimately not work out, because Ivan, as the nickname suggests, is a fucking dick. He has a passion for gore and violence, which developed as early as 13, when he allegedly ordered a fellow prince to be eaten alive by dogs. Pleasant, right? It's no wonder he got the Terrible. This escalated, the older that he got, with his favorite method of torture by his early adulthood being the removal of people's tongues. So, not a good guy here, okay?

• 11:52Speaker 02

  Who the envoy of the Holy Roman Emperor described as, quote, "constantly running and carefully watching everything." He's very prone to anger, and when he is caught up in it, he gets mad like a horse and seems to fall into madness. Which, again, guys, like, you may think this is kind of prejudice and exaggeration, but it is not, for Ivan had a temper so vast that he caused firstly, his daughter-in-law to have a miscarriage, second, constantly beat his servants, likely killed at least one of his wives, and definitely, guys, and like, most importantly, if we're gonna like, lump them all, this is the third, killed his own son after whacking him in the head with a staff. So, terrible, makes sense, right?

• 12:36Speaker 02

  And definitely not someone you want ruling as an absolute autocrat, which is exactly what happens in 1547, when Ivan is only 16 years old, making him the very first of the grand princes to be crowned as czar.

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  His grand mission, what he wants to achieve, right? Besides kind of cutting people's tongues off, is to expand Russian territory, which he did by capturing Siberia, after which he turned a state organization, implementing reforms in law, land, tax, and church, which was, to be fair, far more than any of his princely predecessors had ever done. However, this again was all with the same goal of amassing territory, amassing power, which Viez says is exactly what made the Russian autocracy so fierce. As it's not so much, and this is relevant throughout really the whole of, um, kind of Russian history, guys, it's not so much about the strength of the state at this point, but the weakness of society, with few public institutions able to actually resist or stand

• 14:38Speaker 02

  up to this power, which again is important, and as we kind of get into each of the Romanovs, guys, we're gonna see this, because the lack of checks and balances is partly what allowed them to hang on for so long, and also to ultimately be doomed. But back to Ivan, we are really getting ahead of ourselves, guys. We're gonna kind of be jumping around a bit. I will try and keep it chronological, but like, some things we need to call out. So Ivan's got Siberia at this point, right? Again, he's an empire builder, he wants to expand this territory, but he is not happy with only having Siberia. So he fought endless wars throughout his rule, some with success, others not so much. For example, the Livonian War, which lost him access to the Baltic regions after 20-something

• 15:20Speaker 02

  years of fighting, leaving Russia kind of poor and embarrassed, and Ivan particularly paranoid and brutal, which is actually what sent him into the rage where he killed his son, along with like, thousands of other people in Nokrav, guys. And while he tried to make alliances in marriages, which would improve his standing, everyone fucking hated him. So his death in 1584 was a reason genuinely to celebrate. Everyone's like, fuck this guy, he's terrible, literally, like, thank goodness. But what wasn't a cause for joy was a succession crisis which followed.

• 15:59Speaker 02

  Lasting about 15 years, from 1598 to 1613, the time of troubles, as it was known, was marked by famine, foreign invasion, and insane political instability, which some sources say wiped out a third of the population, like, fuck, a third, that's crazy. So really devastating, and partly happened because the Russian throne was so unstable in this time, with Ivan's remaining son, Fedor, taking the throne and dying weak and childless, after which a senior boyar named Boris ruled, but he was not without competition, guys. You see, Ivan the Terrible had many, many wives, eight, in fact, to be precise, he kind of puts Henry to shame.

• 16:44Speaker 02

  The first of whom was the daughter of a mid-level boyar clan named Anastasia Romanova, who is our very first Romanov, guys, which we love that she's a diva. This 300-year-old dynasty started with her, obsessed. So Anastasia is the first wife of Ivan and his Zarina, which is also sometimes pronounced, um, Zaritsa, but basically like, his empress, okay? We're just gonna use Zarina moving forward. And she had six children by Ivan, four who died young and two who lived to adulthood, named Fedor, the guy who became czar after Ivan, then died childless, and Ivan Ivanovich, the son who was bashed to death in the head by his father, hence the whole succession crisis, guys.

• 17:25Speaker 02

  But even without direct children, there are always other pesky relatives, namely Anastasia's brother Nikita, whose own son was another guy called Fedor, whose own son after that was named Michael. And the reason, guys, we bring up this complex family tree isn't just for fun, it is because it is essential to understanding how the Romanovs actually came to power, and just how big a threat they were to Boris, right? That guy that's kind of the boyar, who had the entire family exiled to northern Russia, leaving him totally unchallenged for the throne. This, as we said, led to the time of troubles,

• 18:06Speaker 02

  which ended when Boris died and was succeeded in 1605 by some kind of random guy who claimed to be another murdered son of Ivan, who the people didn't like and then killed in 1606. After that, there's kind of these couple of other people. It's all very like wishy washy. It's kind of one boyar. It then turns into a collection of seven who rule. And eventually, it all just led to one big giant power vacuum, which really left both the people, the church, and the nobility asking the same question here. If Ivan the Terrible was the last proper czar, who the hell is next in his actual bloodline? And we're not talking about some advantageous Machiavellian boyar or like fake former prince,

• 18:50Speaker 02

  but the next in the imperial line of succession, which was known back then as the old rurikid royal family descending from Anastasia Romanova. Now, as we said, she has no children surviving, so technically there is no next in the bloodline. And as such, it really becomes a search for kind of who has enough legitimacy and palatable qualities to be czar, right? Who's the best fit so that everyone will stop killing each other? And the answer to that question was Anastasia's 16-year-old great nephew, Michael. So the kid who was five when he was exiled is now grownish and kind of finds himself elected in 1613 by the National Assembly to be the new czar of Russia.

• 19:33Speaker 02

  And this is a good pick, guys. Not in the least because he's Anastasia's blood and linked to kind of these old dynasties, blah, blah, blah, but because Michael and his mother lived in a monastery, cut off from a lot of the world for majority of their life, which meant he's a pretty neutral pick here. But that didn't mean he wanted the job. In fact, according to the traditional Russian folk stories on this, when representatives arrived to tell Michael he'd been elected as czar, his mother burst into tears, fearing that this would simply get him killed. Growing up, as we said, almost solely by her side in exile, thanks to Boris, Michael freaked out at her reaction and rejected the offer, but later did come to his senses

• 20:14Speaker 02

  and accepted, being crowned czar Michael I on July 21, 1613, thus beginning the Romanov dynasty. Now, as we already said, guys, Michael was the son of Fyodor Romanov, a man who was not only elected patriarch of the church, which carried real influence and weight, but he was actually an advisor to Ivan the Terrible himself. So he's a bit of a political animal here, who went on to help Michael rule, including dealing with invaders. For while Russia was imploding during the times of trouble, the Poles and the Swedes, who claimed they were the rightful rulers of Russia, were kind of pushing in. They're taking advantage of this weakness. Wanting to get this sorted absolutely ASAP, Michael decides, or like, let's be so for

• 20:59Speaker 02

  real here, guys, his advisors decide, right? To not use brute force, but instead use cold, hard cash, negotiating with King James I of England to pay the Swedes a large sum of cash in exchange for land along the Baltic coast that was taken by Ivan the Terrible. Eventually, all parties agree to this, and as such, off go the Swedes, leaving only the Poles to manage, which Michael does in 1619 by obtaining a ceasefire, after which he's kind of gotten Russia back on track and he hands everything over to his father, while he focuses on the most important role of all: air making.

• 21:38Speaker 02

  Yes, you see, my divas, this is a struggle as old as time, plaguing the first and the last czars. For having lived through the time of troubles, Michael and the Romanovs knew they had to produce an heir to avoid further succession crisis. So Michael starts like pretty, pretty, pretty soon after he's sorted all of these issues out, because he was 16 when he became czar, he starts looking for wives. And while his father tried to find him a bride from the European nobility to forge good international relationships, Russia's lack of clout at this stage made the task difficult. So he eventually married a Russian woman named Ivokia Streschniva in 1626, who gave birth

• 22:20Speaker 02

  to three daughters and three sons, including Alexis, who had become the second Romanov czar. FYI, guys, I am trying my hardest for you on the pronunciations. I've done the like phonetic spelling, so please bear with me. If they're not like 100% perfect, just know I am trying, okay? So all in all, Michael's reign is pretty successful, right? And while nowhere near as impactful as the next few Romanov rulers we're going to discuss, it did lay the foundations for the next 300 years of dynastic power, removing enemy threats, securing existing territory, and ensuring the imperial line of succession, which carried on after his death in 1645.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  Now, I do have to say, while I would love to go through each and every single Romanov ruler, kind of, you know, across these 300 years and talk about them, we'd basically need to have five parts before we even get to Nicholas II. So for the sake of brevity, guys, I'm gonna chat about the big ones, okay? The ones who changed Russia, the world, and history, making vital contributions, both positive and not so positive, to the empire that Nicholas would inherit. The first of whom has to be Peter the Great. Honestly, we cannot talk about Russia without talking about him. And for most of us, we may have heard of Peter the Great from the TV series The Great, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas

• 23:44Speaker 02

  Holt, which FYI, guys, what an absolute banger. Like, I love me a traditional, historically accurate, real period drama drama, okay? BBC Pride and Prejudice kind of cinematic experience. But I also just love some sugar sometimes. You know, a ridiculous, stylized, very occasionally accurate period drama. And The Great easily has to be one of my favorite comfort shows. So if you guys have not seen it, this is your sign to go and watch it. Honestly, like, I can't think about Catherine the Great, who we're gonna talk about in a minute, and not picture Elle Fanning. But anyway, Peter, we're talking about Peter.

• 24:25Speaker 02

  Arguably, like I said, the most important Russian czar. He was born on the 9th of June, 1672, as the child of Czar Alexis's second wife. So he's Michael, the first czar's grandson, who was really only elected because Alexis's first son died really early. And there's this kind of massive beef between the families of the first wife and the second wife, after which they kind of agree to a co-czar system where Peter, the son of the second wife, would co-rule with his older half-brother Ivan from the first wife. Now, this all goes down in 1682 and leaves what can only be described as an intensely sour taste in Peter's mouth, who is kind of looking around at these people who are squabbling

• 25:10Speaker 02

  and killing each other like savages, and, and can't believe that this really represents Russian politics and people. And I think in many ways, he's looking and being like, is this really Russian culture? You know, this, this archaic thing, a belief which was confirmed when he was nearly murdered, uh, by his own sister-in-law, Sophie. So he's not having like the best start.

• 25:35Speaker 03

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• 26:05Speaker 04

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• 26:35Speaker 02

  The czar. Now Sophie was acting as regent for the other ruling brother, and she wanted Peter Gonski, and went to length to try and make this happen, sending hitmen out to kill 17-year-old Peter, who narrowly escaped with his life, leading to Sophie's imprisonment in 1689. At this point, Ivan was 22, but Peter was still only 17 and considered not old enough to rule, so his mum took over as regent, while Peter continued with his education, something he absolutely threw himself into. Again, I think it's like he was really disturbed by the actions of the Russian aristocracy and political animals in his childhood, so he made it his mission to be smarter than anyone in the room.

• 27:17Speaker 02

  From military business to Western technology, Peter absorbed the finest teachings, determined to bring new and exciting things like science and shipbuilding to Russia. And after his mother's death in 1694 and his co-regent Ivan's death two years later, 23-year-old Peter became Tsar and sought to make this new vision a reality. Setting out on a big old journey west known as the Grand Embassy, Peter spent roughly 18 months travelling through Europe, where he absorbed Western ideas like a sponge. From the Dutch Republic to England and the Holy Roman Empire, Peter was obsessed with moving Russia away from what he called medieval Moscow, bringing Western shipbuilding, like

• 28:01Speaker 02

  we said, military technology, industry and administration to his new empire. He also in this time became enamoured by art and culture, apparently learning to catch butterflies and paint seascapes while collecting art to bring back to Russia for his new grand city, St Petersburg. These travels and largely his lean into the Western world also allowed him to establish important trade links with Beijing and obtain territory on the Caspian Sea, but most importantly, divas, it helped modernise Russia. Developing industry, increasing education, simplifying the language and having state

• 28:39Speaker 02

  officials and military men shave their beards, all made Russia and its people look and act and feel like one of the great powers of the time, which Peter really facilitates. But that's not the only reason he was dubbed the Great, because let me tell you guys, he has some serious military prowess. Expanding Russia's navy and territory on the Black and Baltic Seas while winning the Azov Campaign against the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Campaign and most importantly, guys, the big one here, okay? The Great Northern War against Sweden, the land of IKEA, right?

• 29:20Speaker 02

  One of Europe's great powers and really the biggest threat in the region to Peter and Russia more broadly, Sweden was defeated in the Great Northern War, limiting its power, territory and impact largely forever, never obtaining prominence or power again, despite IKEA and despite ABBA, okay? Peter really drove the point home to the kind of Swedes and really to everybody that, you know, he'd won and Russia was this great power now, by building St Petersburg, a city he named after himself, on former Swedish territory, making it the new and improved capital of Russia, while creating access to the sea and opening trade ties with Europe, all in one fell swoop.

• 30:02Speaker 02

  He was also a progressive, or as much as an autocratic Tsar kind of can be progressive, establishing a senate to supervise judicial and administrative tasks while he was wayfighting on campaigns, something rather unimaginable for an absolute monarch at the time, and something we should definitely keep in mind, lock it away, for when we talk about Nicholas II and World War I in the upcoming episodes, okay? Memory marker planted. So Peter has a huge, like we said, impact on Russian history, really defining what it meant to be a Tsar, an Emperor, a true and proper ruler, right? Who set the empire up for the future, which his ministers commented on at his funeral

• 30:43Speaker 02

  in 1725, saying he made Russia's, quote, "power strong like a rock and diamond", and then are wrong. In fact, still to this day, guys, and I didn't know this, you guys DM'd me and told me this, many Russians see Peter the Great as the last real Tsar. However, all reform and change meets opposition, and Peter had a large contingent of haters who called him, quote, "the Antichrist". In apparent typical Tsar tradition, he also was indelibly cruel to his own son. I don't know why so many of them have like killed and tortured their son, but Peter's son Alexei was tortured and killed by his father after he became convinced that he

• 31:26Speaker 02

  was conspiring against him, which, in Peter's defence, he actually was conspiring against him, so, you know, he did. He was bang on, but still, don't kill your sons, Jesus. It also left Russia, yet again, guys, without a male heir, but to avoid a succession crisis, Peter handpicked who would rule after him, naming his second wife Catherine I as his heir, which you guys are gonna fucking love this, okay? For all of but three of the 71 years after Peter, women solely ruled Russia. So let's jump forward now to 1729, only four years after the death of Peter the Great,

• 32:08Speaker 02

  where we will meet the most famous of these female rulers by far. But, this story, unlike all to date, doesn't begin in Russia, but actually in Germany, where Princess Sophie of Arnhart Zerbst is born. Now, in 1744, when Sophie is just 15 years old, she is shipped off to Russia under the pretence that she would marry Peter III, who is the grandson of Peter the Great, heir to the Russian Empire. This would then, one day, make her Empress of Russia, which she's kind of keen for, guys, as despite her title, Sophie's family was not particularly wealthy or powerful by royal standards.

• 32:48Speaker 02

  She herself, however, was highly intelligent and intensely curious, with a desire to please the people around her, while also getting the most out of situations for herself. So she kind of sets off for Russia here, keen to obviously like please her family and make a good match, but also keen to explore this post-Peter the Great world, which is full of learning and art and technology and culture, an expectation which kind of falls flat. For when she arrives, she finds a backwards court and a pretty cold and callous reception from Peter III, who kind of, you know, he's like, whatever, I'll marry you, which he

• 33:29Speaker 02

  does on August 21st, 1745, with Princess Sophie taking the name of a Katerina Aleksievna, aka Catherine. And she gets to work right away, guys, on playing the powers that be, charming Empress Elizabeth, the current Tsarina, working the ballrooms of the Russian court and eventually becoming beloved by the Russian public. And none of this is by mistake, guys, okay? Catherine is a political animal, she is wickedly smart, she is highly motivated and had a will of iron, really taking the job of future Tsarina seriously, wearing traditional court dresses, including karkoshnik headdresses, eating local foods, mastering the Russian

• 34:14Speaker 02

  language and devouring every history and philosophy book available to her in the palace library. She also enjoyed first-hand education, speaking with some of the greatest minds in Europe, including Voltaire, you'll know him from The Great, who helped spearhead the Enlightenment. So Catherine's really getting the most juice for her squeeze in her role as Empress-to-be, okay? But this was not the case for her marriage. In fact, journalist Suzanne Jacques says the couple, quote, "couldn't have been more different in terms of their intellect and interests". With Peter being boring, immature and lazy, and Catherine a curious and cultured queen, which meant they only produced one living son, a boy called Paul, and side by side,

• 34:59Speaker 02

  Catherine made Peter look like an incompetent loser, something he became incredibly insecure about, growing openly more hostile towards Catherine, who he tried to get rid of. But, he wouldn't have the chance for that, divas, for Catherine launched a coup d'etat, arresting Peter, forcing him to sign an abdication and declaring herself as Russia's sole Empress. Eight days later, in a series of events I am sure in no way, shape or form are linked to the aforementioned, Peter died of hemorrhoidal colic, with Catherine announcing her son Paul would be her heir with Peter now gone. But Paul wouldn't rule for quite some time, because Catherine intended on not only a

• 35:41Speaker 02

  long life, but a massive rule, getting to work immediately by positioning herself as the political successor of Peter the Great. So she's really aiming high to carry on his legacy of modernity and strength by outlining her vision for a progressive Russia, which sought to improve governmental administration, revise judiciary processes and introduce greater tolerance within her empire. She also wanted to, very controversially, guys, abandon serfdom and advocated for women's education by founding the first girls' school in Russia, which obsessed with all of that, she's like really living up to the great monarch. But, just like Peter, she wasn't great all the time, with her diplomatic skills slightly

• 36:25Speaker 02

  more, uh, pointed, perhaps? Eventually clashing with pretty much all the nations that Michael I and Peter the Great tried to appease, turning Russia into a more aggressive nation among the European powers. Still, it was a power though, and arguably more so under Catherine than it ever was under Peter. I am definitely, my divas do not worry, gonna do an episode on Catherine, because we can't cover all of her greatness and not so greatness in five to 10 minutes, but she is an incredible woman, a real leader who helped prove that women were actually capable of holding and amassing more power, with her championing of the arts and liberal sexuality, leading her to pave her own way.

• 37:08Speaker 02

  Of course, still featuring a lot of misogynistic and outwardly kind of racist backlash for her German heritage and affairs, with her detractors making all sorts of lewd comments about her hypersexuality, including that she fucked a horse. This is, obviously, incorrect and merely a symptom of the double standards of the time, with all the Tsars before having legendary scores of lovers, which was allowed, meanwhile she, as a woman and an Empress at that, her sexuality wasn't deemed acceptable. She didn't care though, once admitting, quote, "the trouble is that my heart is loath to remain even one hour without love". So that's Catherine, guys.

• 37:48Speaker 02

  She loves sex, she loves Russia, she loves art, and she loves power, which she held on to until her death in 1769, after her son Paul took over the reins and did an altogether shit job, which resulted in his own murder by a bunch of statesmen who didn't like his policies. Next after him came the first Alexander in 1801, who was a big believer in Catherine's reforms and, as it turns out, guys, randomly, are Mohawks, which he sported in this picture. For you guys listening, I'll post it to the pod, it's fucking hilarious. Trying to really drag Russia into the 19th century at this point, Alexander I was liberal with a capital L.

• 38:32Speaker 02

  Not only did he introduce new judicial powers of the senate, codes against censorship, and several counterbalances to offset the power of the Tsar, aka himself, but he even admitted that while the French Revolution was brutal, he hoped that its ideas would come to Russia, again, effectively bringing his own rule to an end. So, very, very different from the next Tsars we're gonna meet, and while similar in some ideas to Catherine and Peter, not a huge lover of autocracy. So what else do we know about this apparent perceived diva? Well firstly, he apparently was super handsome, with some Russian women even calling him

• 39:16Speaker 02

  the Sphinx, which was basically apparently like the 19th century's version of hot, which we should use more, like, you're such a Sphinx. Someone called me a Sphinx, I'd probably be like, what the fuck are you talking about? But it just means hot, guys, so add it to the vocab. We also know that despite all his liberal aspirations, Russia was overwhelmed by civil unrest and foreign tension with France. For one not-so-little man called Napoleon decided he'd like a bit of Russia for himself. Recognizing the French Emperor as a threat against peace, Alexander believed that the only way he could achieve his agenda was if Napoleon was gone. Which, guys, in case you haven't picked up, like, throughout all of human history, pretty

• 40:01Speaker 02

  difficult thing to do, okay? One, yes, because of his military prowess, but two, the size of his army, which Alexander soon discovered firsthand in June of 1812, when 600,000 men, aka the largest army ever assembled in history at that point, crossed into Russia's Polish territories. Knowing he couldn't face Napoleon and win, Alexander decided that the best thing to do was to draw the French into Russian territory, where their forces would have the upper hand. They first fought the French at Borodino in September of that same year, but were eventually overrun and directed to abandon their blockade and protection of Moscow.

• 40:44Speaker 02

  As such, the French arrived at the great city of the Tsars and found it empty and on fire, which was pretty much Alexander's whole kind of strategy with Napoleon. Block him where possible, destroy supplies, sacrifice where needed, and basically apply the scorched earth method to rob Napoleon of the thing he wanted most. A big, great, decisive victory. Thanks to this strategy and Napoleon's ego preventing the French from pulling back during the bitter Russian winter, thousands of French soldiers died from cold starvation and disease, with barely, this is crazy, guys, 10% of the French force that entered Russia making it back alive.

• 41:28Speaker 02

  Determined to squash this threat once and for all, Alexander followed the French, committing a large force to the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, which did win Alexander some serious bragging rights. And while Napoleon's real last stand, guys, was Waterloo, we've all listened to ABBA, right? We know that as a fact. The Battle of Leipzig was essential to beating the French forces down, and so Alexander took his winning ego into the boardroom with the other Napoleonic allies, making all sorts of demands of them, including the expansion of Poland, which the British and Austrians flat-out rejected, fearing Russian expansionism, which, guys, is actually fair. I mean, let us not forget, Russia occupies about 11% of the global footprint, and just

• 42:11Speaker 02

  for some context here, which I actually found this really fascinating, between 1500 and 1917, the Russian Empire grew by 130 square kilometres on average, every single day, which is about the size of the US city of Boston, making it the world's largest territorial empire. So this is not an unjust fear from the Brits and the Austrians by any means. Still though, Alexander I was a part of this major moment in history, and again, in his mind, he'd made a real step towards eliminating dictatorial power. The irony, of course, being that he was an autocratic Tsar. To celebrate this victory, the Russians held a big parade in Paris, which really marked

• 42:55Speaker 02

  the height of Russian prestige and influence in 19th century Europe. So what happened next? Well, having his fill of blood and death after this campaign, Alexander became progressively more preoccupied with his spirituality, with many of his later policies guided by religion, something that all but silenced any talk of constitutional reform, which, boo, what a fucking L. But to be fair, he did have a good reason to turn to religion, because all his daughters died in infancy, leaving him airless, which also coincided with hundreds of people being killed by one of the most serious floods in St Petersburg history, which many people chalked up to Alexander being punished by the wrath of God.

• 43:37Speaker 02

  So of course you're gonna turn to spirituality when, like, your people are like, "God hates you", you know? Something which was not uncommon for Russian society and kind of the court to say at the time, because they are a deeply superstitious people, which you'll remember from our Rasputin episode, if you watch that.

• 43:55Speaker 03

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• 44:22Speaker 04

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• 44:47Speaker 05

  A few months ago.

• 44:55Speaker 02

  Now, the death of Alexander I is a bit of a mystery to us, but on December 1st, 1825, death bells were heard in St Petersburg with word spreading that Alexander had died of typhus. However, this wasn't necessarily correct, with the Tsar actually dying in a remote Crimean town. But still, the fact remained, Alexander I was dead. And again, the throne was without an heir, which, there's actually a real irony, and when I was researching this, I didn't realise how many of these earlier Tsars were airless, and you compare them with Saint Nicholas II and the kind of anxiety and almost, I guess curse is maybe the right word, I don't think it's too strong a word for kind of

• 45:38Speaker 02

  certain, um, associated with the birth of Alexei, because a sonless Tsar was not unheard of. It's actually pretty typical, as we kind of trace this history. Anyway, as we said, Alexander is dead, which brings us to the Decemberists. Now, these guys were a large group of nobles, officers, and professionals who were sick of autocratic rule and heavily inspired by the Enlightenment to push for a modern and moral Russia, which involved no more Tsars, ban them, sick of them, throwing tomatoes, we're done. And they were motivated, and they were skilled, and they communicated with extensive correspondence on how they would actually make this happen.

• 46:20Speaker 02

  And perhaps it actually may have worked if not for this very sudden death of Alexander, for while it gave them a window and a total power vacuum to try and make this happen, it didn't. Because Catherine the Great's grandson, Nicholas I, sweeps in, receiving the oath of allegiance from figures in the government and taking power. But not everyone agreed on his right to rule. I mean, like I said, we've got the Decemberists with three thousand soldiers gathering in Senate Square to refuse the quote would be Tsar, which gave genuine hope for their movement and traction here. But it all ended up dying out because their leader kind of lost his nerve and never showed up, which how embarrassing for them. Like, they probably could have done something here.

• 47:05Speaker 02

  Anyway, by evening, Nicholas takes full control of the square. He's like, fuck all of you. And he seems to have crushed this rebellion, but he couldn't crush their ideas, which we are going to chat more on later. Again, mental note, the Decemberists, this first kind of uprising. For now, though, let's look at Nicholas the First. So as the grandson of Catherine the Great, who reportedly called him the Colossus at birth, which like fucking hectic, Nicholas the First strongly believed in both autocracy as his divine right to rule and in his own esteemed opinion of himself, ruling with a tough and imposing fierceness

• 47:46Speaker 02

  by introducing the Nicholas system, based on the principle of one Tsar, one faith, and one nation. This led to a strict programme of Russification, built on the belief of patriotism, nationalism, and reinforcing autocracy, which for some was bolstering. But for other non-Russian in the region, like Poles and the Jewish peoples, this was isolating and dangerous, leading to multiple revolts and uprisings, which Nicholas tried to squash by really strengthening the bureaucracy around himself, where your rank was decided upon your service to the nation and the Tsar, which in theory, sounds better than aristocracy, where your rank is given like based on how rich you are. But honestly, it's not too

• 48:30Speaker 02

  dissimilar to private councilmen or oligarchs today, which meant that even more fierceness emerged in Nicholas, who historians today believed acted to try and conceal his own internal panic about the state of his empire in the 19th century. So he's projecting, okay? Which really checks out here, because at this point, revolutions are well and truly on the mind. From Paris to Belgium to Warsaw, people all over Europe were rising up against the ruling authorities. And Nicholas saw the real potential for this sentiment to spread into Russia. So to really combat this, which was definitely just a big old

• 49:11Speaker 02

  Band-Aid, he ordered a modernisation programme, building steam train lines and kickstarting industrialisation, which worked for a while, guys. But ultimately, this wasn't something that could be done overnight. And with growing peasant frustration and a country being left behind, Nicholas died, passing Russia to his son, Alexander the Second, who arguably inherited a more insecure and dangerous throne than perhaps ever before. Kind of minus the Khans and Ivan the Terrible, of course, like objectively horrific people. This throne was so unstable at this point. So now, we start to get into the territory of the last Tsars, right? Nicholas the Second, Alexandra, Alexei, Anastasia, Rasputin, Revolution,

• 49:56Speaker 02

  all of that jazz. Because Alexander the Second was the granddaddy of the last Tsar. So what do we know about him? Well, as we said, he inherited a country in a pretty bad state, guys, having experienced the genuine anti-monarchy movement against his dad, which meant that Alexander the Second had a big decision to make. He's kind of at this crossroads. Does he reform? Or does he double down? Well, according to Fiers, he says that Alexander was no less committed to the ideas of autocracy than his father, but new reforms were needed to actually save Russia, to continue this dynasty. And so through him, the great Russian

• 50:37Speaker 02

  bear would try and drag itself into the 19th century. But how does he do it where others before failed? Well, the key thing to know about Alexander the Second is that he was raised during the Crimean War, which caused him to worry from a very early age about Russia's backwardness and brutality. So he is from the get-go, guys, concerned for the future, something which wasn't helped by his overbearing father, who was brutish and preached rule through an iron fist. His mother, however, the former Prussian princess Charlotte, who became Tsarina Alexandra, was determined her son would be raised with a different point of view, entrusting his education to poet Vasili Zhuvosky, who was

• 51:21Speaker 02

  a romantic man of humanitarian principles that gave the future Tsar a liberal education. After this, it was pretty stock standard. We're talking marriage, we're talking military, we're talking making male heirs, with him marrying a Hessian princess named Maria Alexandrovna against his mother's will in 1841, resulting in eight children, including Nicholas, the heir, and Alexander, the spare. Eventually, though, the imperial marriage flamed out, with Alexander taking on a mistress by the name of Princess Ekaterina Dolgurikova, who was almost thirty years his junior. Now, if you're thinking, big deal, guys, Tsars

• 52:01Speaker 02

  do this all the time, then you would be right, but also wrong. For the affair with Ekaterina, whose family had deep ties to Russian power brokers dating back to kind of Peter the Great's days, seriously fucked up the imperial family within palace walls, and really within St Petersburg society at large, with many of the most prominent families kind of turning against Alexander in this process. But let's actually lock into the timeline here, guys, enough royalty about mistresses. Let's get back into the actual chronology. Now, Alexander the Second became Tsar on the 19th of February, 1855, at thirty-six years old, and had a very clear idea on what he wanted to do now that the crown was on his head. Firstly,

• 52:45Speaker 02

  he ended the Crimean War by signing the Treaty of Paris, putting a halt on the massive drain on Russia's military. And secondly, he wanted to do something that Catherine the Great and even Peter the Great sought to do but never could: free the serfs. Now, again, it is 1860-ish by this point, so society is far more progressive than it was back in their day, but still, guys, this is Russia. And the land-owning nobility relied on serfdom to prop up their estates. So there was major backlash from within the ruling elite about this proposal. But Alexander the Second fundamentally believed that the serf-based economy was not strong enough to compete with bigger, more successful nations like

• 53:28Speaker 02

  Britain and France, who were rapidly industrialising at this point. And most importantly here, guys, you know, of course, he recognised the injustice of this mass-class divide, not so much necessarily as a humanitarian, because if he really cared about the class divide, he would just kind of dissolve the whole monarchy. But more so from a political standpoint, guys, and this is really, really important here, okay? Alexander the Second addressed a group of Moscow nobles who were kind of saying, you know, this is fucked, we don't want to free our serfs, saying to them, it is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below. Something which

• 54:10Speaker 02

  we will see come into fruition in the coming episodes, guys. But Alexander the Second, at this point in time, he's really ahead of the curve, and as such, issued the Emancipation Manifesto in 1861, a collection of seventeen legislative acts that would once and for all abolish serfdom in the Russian Empire, which, slay, guys, we love, like a reform we can get behind. However, there's always a however, isn't there? It's such a letdown. I'm such a like Debbie Downer always. This was not a quick fix, for in some parts of Russia, it took peasants over twenty years to obtain land from landowners to farm, and even then, many were overcharged rent and tied legally to a larger working commune,

• 54:53Speaker 02

  which caused further problems. To combat this, Alexander set up another reform in 1864, which allowed Russian districts to form local councils, who could kind of, you know, provide schools and medical care and private roads themselves without the wealthy noble landowners say so, which again, sounds amazing, rock on. However, only those wealthy noble landowners could actually vote in these kind of things. So like, we're really seeing a pattern here, guys, okay? Of intent to reform, but at the most basic level, like no one's willing to really like just get the job done. Followed then by another reform,

• 55:36Speaker 02

  which again, looks more liberal, but the authority and power of that system is still the same as it had been for almost 250 years. And this really is the key reason, okay? The number one reason the Russian imperial throne fell. It was too little, too late, and too similar to what had always been. With Fiers saying Alexander the Second granted freedoms within the frameworks of autocracy, which is bang on. And again, guys, we are going to track this trend from here on out, with exactly what was done policy-wise, exactly what went down within the royal marriages and kind of the military at large, in the way of progress and reform, because that takes us from where we are now to the end.

• 56:21Speaker 02

  But Alexander did do some genuinely innovative and effective things. Not saying that freeing the serfs isn't effective because, obviously, but you know, again, did it really work? Kind of not really, you know, maybe? He did, however, kickstart Russia's economy into high gear, making the country more productive and less reliant on the central government by fostering industry, modernity, and cold, hard cash by selling parts of the empire back to other nations, using the funds to build cathedrals and public buildings. He was also genuinely passionate about helping orphans and children, trying to improve education and literacy in particular by opening new schools and investing heavily in teachers.

• 57:02Speaker 02

  Another of his reforms, which at face value seems really terrible but actually helped other lower classes, was introducing universal military conscription, which previously was universal amongst the peasants who faced up to 25 years in service. Under Alexander the Second, everyone and anyone could be conscripted, which dramatically reduced the standard length of active military service for the lower classes. So it's through these acts that Alexander the Second gets his title of the Tsar Liberator. And they were genuinely net positive reforms for the Russian people, with the empire looking far healthier than it had when Alexander inherited it. But just as things are kind of on the up, a horrific blow comes hurling down

• 57:47Speaker 02

  when 22-year-old Nicholas, the heir, suddenly died in need in 1865. This was a massive blow for Alexander and the Russian people, for the next in line to the throne was the straightforward, physically imposing, very conservative, and guys, just like, pretty intellectually unremarkable second son, Alexander. Now, this is a man who never expected to rule and had all but set out for a life of military command. So this is a massive shock to him, who we're going to speak more on next week, and to all of Europe, really, which is probably a good time to do a general check-in with what else is going on in Europe at this time and how they view the Romanovs.

• 58:31Speaker 02

  So, thanks to a little old diva called Queen Victoria, most of the European monarchies are related at this point, including the British and the Romanovs, because her son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, married the daughter of Tsar Alexander the Second. It's all very complicated, but they were all kind of, you know, married and related and doing whatever it is that they do in these aristocratic circles. So there's lots of family ties here, with Queen Victoria being the big one that everyone's trying to impress and kind of schmooze up to. Although, guys, let's be real, this is likely because of the size of the British Empire versus a kind of matriarchal family system. Still, the Romanovs were constantly heading west to England, and despite making a real effort to mingle with their extended family,

• 59:16Speaker 02

  Queen Victoria never quite trusted them. And this is, again, another thread that we're going to follow through from here on out in next week's episode, because the interconnectedness between what would be the Windsors, right now they're the Saks, Coburg and Gothers, and the Romanovs only gets stronger from here on out. As for now, though, Victoria wasn't impressed, referring to, quote, "horrid Russia" in her letters, as a nation that, again, quote, "I could not wish for any of you" when speaking with her granddaughters. As for the death of Nicholas, though, she did express sympathy for. And while not particularly liking Alexander the Second very much, she expressed her condolences for this loss, which, again, was really devastating

• 59:59Speaker 02

  for both the Romanovs and, as we'll soon find out, for the future of the Russian people. But not everyone is sympathetic to the Tsar Liberator. And much like his father, Alexander the Second experienced plenty of political dissent from both sides of the political spectrum, with some thinking he did too much too quickly and others thinking he did too little too late, including the Narodniks, aka the populists, who believed Russian peasants could become the foundation of a revolutionary society. Sounds familiar? As such, thousands of idealistic young activists participated in what they called "the going of the people" in 1874, by travelling into rural communities hoping to essentially politically awaken the peasantry,

• 1:00:43Speaker 02

  which was a real and present threat, guys, with a former schoolteacher by the name of Alexander Solovov trying to assassinate the Tsar in April of 1879. And although he failed, it triggered a massive panic in the palace, with six military governor generals being appointed to impose a system of censorship and repression to fight off any of these threats. This, as you can imagine, just added fuel to the fire here, with November of that same year seeing a second attempt on the Tsar's life by terrorists who tried to blow up his train. This was then followed, guys, by Kameny Bridge in St Petersburg also being blown up as the Tsar was meant to pass under.

• 1:01:27Speaker 02

  And if you're thinking, my god, this, like, this is what? Is it all these attempts? Like, this can't get any worse, you would be wrong. For by 1880, tensions were so high that a mine was constructed in the Winter Palace's basement underneath the dining room, so literally like underneath the Tsar's home and offices, with the mine exploding when the Tsar was meant to be eating, which would have killed him, guys. But the dinner was delayed because a guest was running late. So, again, insane levels of tension here, which could not go unchecked. And so Alexander finally agreed to consider the people's desire for a constitution, taking immediate steps to release political prisoners and appointing the Minister of the Interior to start drafting up a constitution.

• 1:02:12Speaker 02

  Now, I want to be clear here, all right? This was not a constitution which made the Russian throne a constitutional monarchy, like Britain, versus an autocracy like it had been to date. It was a sweeping set of reforms which implemented far greater protections and powers for the people, with the minister proposing that the Tsar allow representatives from local institutions to participate in commissions advising the government directly. So not necessarily, like, democracy via elected officials or a genuine parliament of such, but a chance for a small group of people in these local institutions

• 1:02:51Speaker 02

  to contribute to the broader political decisions, which the Tsar signed off on in early March of 1881. And while this was incredible progress, again, we're in an autocracy year, there were still factions who felt this was all too little and too late, including the Narodnaya Volia, aka the People's Will, who, unlike the populists, believed that targeted political assassination could destabilise the autocratic state just enough to trigger revolutionary change. And their ultimate target, guys, was Alexander himself. Now, as we've said, and as we've kind of covered and, you know, had a bit of a, a ironic lolat,

• 1:03:34Speaker 02

  this man is no stranger to assassination attempts. But no one was expecting the day of March 13th, 1881, to unfold as it did. So what happened exactly? Well, this cold and nippy Sunday in St Petersburg was like any other, but with a fresh dump of snow glistening in the street, the city looked extra bright and shiny from the 63-year-old Tsar's bulletproofed, ironclad carriage, a gift from Napoleon III. Travelling from Mikhailovsky Palace to the Winter Palace, surrounded by police forces for his protection, all seemed well and truly in hand. But this was not the case, for on a nearby street corner, two members of the People's Will were given the signal to attack.

• 1:04:18Speaker 02

  Rising to their feet, the scene before them erupted in chaos as bombs exploded under the Tsar's carriage. Windows were blown out, the floor was shattered, but still, the Tsar himself survived. I mean, Jesus Christ, guys, nothing will kill this man. He is so alive, in fact, at this point, that he gets out of the carriage and starts helping the injured people caught up in the blast, much to the chagrin of the protection officers who arrested the men involved, but not one of their conspirators. A man named Ignatie Grinovitski, who spotting the Tsar hauling the injured off the pavement, threw another bomb, this time with lethal precision.

• 1:05:00Speaker 02

  Considered to this day as the world's first modern suicide bomber, Grinovitski died from injuries sustained by his own bomb, with the smoke clearing to reveal the Tsar of all of Russia had finally met the end. According to the chief of police on site, quote, "His Majesty was half lying, half sitting, leaning on his right arm. I tried to lift him, but the Tsar's legs were shattered and the blood pouring out of them. There, in this moment, with the smoke cleared, the silence deafening, and the white snow now a shade of red crimson, the Tsar Liberator died." A moment which Fies says, quote, "It is hard to think of a more momentous turning point in Russian history." And he isn't wrong, guys.

• 1:05:46Speaker 02

  For this was the very first domino to fall. The first in a line of terrible events, decisions, people, and destinies which would bring the entirety of the Romanov dynasty crashing down upon itself. For the throne had a new occupant, the spare who became the heir, who now is known as Tsar Alexander III, who we are going to unpack in our next episode, guys, titled "The Romanovs, the Family", looking at Alexander and his wife Maria, their children, including Nicholas the Second, and most importantly, guys, his marriage to German Princess Alex Apess, whose quest for a son would lead them to none other than Grigori Rasputin.

• 1:06:31Speaker 02

  Which does bring us to the end of another episode of Hot History, guys. Thank you so much for listening along. I know sometimes this, like, context setting can be a bit boring. It's like, get to Rasputin already. I know, we're going to get to him in the coming episodes and so much more, guys, including the Anastasia Pretenders and how, like, Putin even came to power. We're going to link it all up for you. If you are looking for some more hot history before then, though, then you can follow us on Instagram and Substack at Hot History Club. We are going to be having so much Romanov content available for you there and on YouTube and TikTok at hot/history. It has been a pleasure, guys, getting down and dirty in time with you, and I will speak to you all next Tuesday. Mark your calendars, make sure to come back. Thanks, guys, love you, bye.

• 1:07:20Speaker 02

  This episode of Hot History was recorded on Darrickland, always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

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• 1:07:56Speaker 04

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• 1:08:14Speaker 04

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• 1:08:18Speaker 05

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